


one more time, another time

by dogbreath333



Series: Ino, ephemeris [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, F/M, Ino is everything!, Ino is infinite!, Ino's search for identity via pussy, Ino's search for pussy via identity crisis?, It all turns out fine in the end, Language, There's just way too much Ino to be limited to one place/time/person/dimension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-18 06:24:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16989717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogbreath333/pseuds/dogbreath333
Summary: Ino is sitting at a corner table contemplating physics, and sex, and death.





	1. Chapter 1

Ino is sitting at a corner table contemplating physics, and sex, and death.

Her eyes are crossed, examining her unbroken wooden chopsticks up close while two purple lacquered pinky nails pull the ends in opposite directions. _One more ounce of force and it’s over._ She watches the wood begin to splinter.

“Entertaining yourself?” Shikamaru pulls out a chair for himself and sits across from her.

Ino snaps the chopsticks open. “Fuck off.”

“Okay,” he says, and begins to rise and leave without fanfare.

“Oh my god, shut up, sit down. I invited Naruto.”

Shikamaru sinks back into the chair. “Haven’t seen him in a while,” he comments mildly.

“He’s a busy boy.”

“He’s in high demand,” Shikamaru adds.

Ino begins pouring out three glasses of water from the pitcher on the table.

Shikamaru coughs lightly. “Thank you.”

“You can thank me by quitting smoking,” Ino replies.

“Save it. You’ll probably try to bum one off me the second we get outside,” he fires back.

Ino scowls and says nothing, examining her nails carefully. _What the hell is going on here._

 “Oh, Naruto’s here.”

 _Thank fuck,_ Ino thinks.

“Sorry I’m late!” Naruto’s voice arrives well before his person. He hurries over and throws his coat down before taking the seat next to Ino, settling down with a loud huff. “The _reason_ I’m late—” He brings his water glass to his mouth and begins chugging it down, the index finger of his other hand raised to ward off interruption.

Ino takes the opportunity to lean to the side and hug Naruto around the middle, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Hi Ino,” he says warmly, and slams down his empty glass. “The _reason_ I’m late is that I ran into Hinata. We got to talking, and she agrees that I should dye my hair red.”

“Good idea,” Shikamaru responds. “I was just thinking that I had two too many blond bimbos in my life.”

Naruto frowns. “Yeah, I really wouldn’t suggest talking about Temari like that if you value your life.”

Ino smacks Naruto lightly on the arm. “I’m the other bimbo, bimbo. And your hair is perfect the way it is.” Her attention shifts towards Shikamaru. “How is Temari, by the way.”

“She’s fine,” Shikamaru answers, flipping distractedly through the menu. “Do you guys know what you want?”

“‘She’s fine?’” Ino prods. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Shikamaru pauses, staring blankly at the menu in his hands before closing it and putting it down on the table. “Distance sucks, obviously.”

Naruto hums sympathetically.

“And when she is here...” Shikamaru starts to trail off. He shakes his head and finishes, “Sometimes it’s just a lot.”

Ino shrugs. “I always said she was too much woman for you.”

Shikamaru levels a glare at her.

 _Yeah?_ Ino thinks.

A few tense moments pass before he snorts a laugh and picks his menu back up. “I wonder how Sai’s managing then.”

“Oh, that’s over.”

“What! Why! He didn’t say anything!” Naruto is growing more and more animated. “Oh my god! Ino!”

Shikamaru pinches the bridge of his nose.

“You need to lower your voice bimbo,” Ino says, not unkindly. “It’s okay. Everything’s fine between me and your boy.”

Shikamaru sighs. “You two are giving me a headache.” He turns to Ino. “What happened?”

Ino smothers her desire to get up, walk out of the restaurant, and never look back. _Everyone’s gonna hear about it eventually. Might as well set the record straight._

Naruto reaches out and takes her hand encouragingly while she’s gathering her thoughts. _Jesus, this kid,_ Ino sighs to herself. _We don't deserve _him._ _She squeezes Naruto’s hand before giving it back to him. “I’m okay. It just wasn’t working out. We’re too similar.”

 Shikamaru quirks an eyebrow. “Really.”

 “Yes, actually,” Ino laughs. “Two abrasive hot people, who just, you know, won’t shut their mouths in public. And then we’d be alone and everything would feel so… heavy. There was just too much melancholy between the two of us. Sai’s got a lot of shit to work through.” Ino breathes deeply. “And I’ve been kinda fucked up since my dad… our dads died.” She tries to hold Shikamaru’s gaze, but his eyes are hard to find.

 “Yeah,” he says softly.

 “Anyway,” Ino blusters on. “I love him, and I want to support him. I just can’t do that while I’m fucking him. It’s just not healthy for me.”

 “I understand that entirely,” Naruto offers sagely. “It’s like that with me and Sasuke.”

  _What the fuck._ “Except you and Sasuke aren’t dating. Or fucking.”

 “Right. But you know what I mean.”

  _No, I really don’t._ “Yeah, of course honey.”

 Shikamaru is giving the two of them an inscrutable look. “So should we order, or what?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“So, how have you been coping with our break-up?”

 Ino chokes on her coffee. “Oh my god, you’re a madman.”

 Sai frowns. Sort of frowns. _It’s the microexpressions, with him,_ Ino thinks.

 “I thought you said you wanted us to have an open and honest dialogue.”

“No, no, no,” Ino touches Sai’s arm lightly. “You’re absolutely right.” She glances around the busy hallway. _Just didn’t expect to have a dialogue in the middle of the academy._ “I’m doing okay. How are you?”

 “I’m better than I expected to be.”

 “Well, of course,” Ino rolls her eyes. “You’re probably drowning in pussy already.”

 Sai grins. “Naturally.”

 “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

 Sai and Ino turn to find Shikamaru leaning against the opposite wall, hands in his pockets, head cocked to the side.

 “Shikamaru,” Sai greets warmly. "Yes, you are."

 “Hey Sai. Lieutenant Yamanaka, with me.”

 “I’ll catch you later Sai,” Ino winks.

 Shikamaru is already walking towards Kakashi’s office. “You climbing the walls yet?” he calls back as Ino jogs up to him.

  _How did he know?_ “Fuck, yes. Where are we going?”

 “Tea country.”

 “Where’s Choji?”

 Shikamaru glances at her. “Sitting this one out. It’s just intelligence gathering.”

 Ino groans. “I haven’t had a fight in a minute.”

 Shikamaru’s fist hovers over the door to the Hokage’s office. “Don’t jinx it.” He knocks twice.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Can I have a cigarette?”

“Not until we’re back in Fire Country,” Shikamaru calls back to Ino. They’ve taken to the trees, and are making their way quickly and quietly back to Konoha.

“We already crossed the border.”

“When?”

Ino smirks. “About 30 seconds ago, when I asked you for a cigarette.”

The resulting silence speaks volumes. _Troublesome, right?_ Ino says to herself.

“Alright, fine, you wench. Let’s rest.”

They drop from the trees in silence. Ino takes in their surroundings for a moment before deciding, _safe._ And then, promptly socks Shikamaru in the stomach.

“Fuck!” He doubles over, wheezing. “Are you insane?”

“Yeah, I’m insane. I’m an insane wench with a craving for nicotine. Hand ‘em over, Nara.”

Shikamaru groans and pulls the slightly crushed pack from the side pocket of his flak jacket. “That punch was chakra enhanced. Which was rude.” He taps out two cigarettes. “And you noticed the second we crossed the border.” He looks at her with a hint of concern. “You feelin’ edgy or something? Don’t keep me in the dark, Yamanaka. It’s both of our asses out here.”

“No,” Ino answers quickly. “No, I think we’re good. Just been cooped up in T&I too long, not to mention I’ve been dealing with a lot of clan shit. It’s good to be out of the village, I’m just… itchy.”

“Well sit down, you’re giving me anxiety,” Shikamaru grumbles.

Ino closes her eyes. _Get it together, bitch._ She breathes, deeply, in and out. Once, and then twice. Three times.

“Ino!” Shikamaru says sharply.

“Yes?”

He grabs her hand and tugs her down to sit next to him on the frozen earth. Puts a cigarette in her hand and briefly waves a match over the end, failing to light it completely. Ino inhales hard and watches it suddenly flare up scarlet. She lets out a series of staccato coughs. _And we’re back._

Ino levels Shikamaru with a self-deprecating smile. “Please don’t recommend me for a psych eval in your mission report.”

“Stop freaking me out then.”

“Copy that.”

Shikamaru lets out an angry breath with a puff of smoke. “So we’re doing this now, I guess.”

“Doing what?” Suddenly her heart is in her fucking throat.

“Hashing this out. Whatever’s been going on between us for the last, I don’t know, year? Maybe longer? I know you’ve tried to bring it up, and every time I shut you down. But I’m tired now. You wore me out. This is an open invitation. Say it.”

Ino crushes her cigarette in the cold dirt. After a moment, Shikamaru does the same. “Last chance to back out,” she offers him.

“Ino _—_ ”

“I love you.” _Easy._ Easy like breathing, easy like slipping into someone’s mind, easy like knowing how to arrange the flowers just so. Easy.

“Yeah,” Shikamaru sounds like he’s been punched again. “Yeah, me too.”

“I need to make sure we’re on the same page. Maybe I was unclear.”

Shikamaru laughs. “Yes Ino, we’re on the same page. We just have to figure out what happens now that we’ve said it.”

Ino’s heart seems to be falling out of her throat. It’s falling straight down into the pit of her stomach. _Forward. You go forward no matter what._ She steels herself.

“What happens next? I don’t know, I was thinking maybe that I would kiss you. And then we would go back to Konoha. Turn in our mission report. Figure out how to be happy again.”

Shikamaru is already shaking his head. “You know it’s not that easy. You know it’s so much more complicated than that.”

 _Forward_. “Complicated. Right, like the war I guess? Oh, or maybe complicated like coming to terms with uncomfortable truths about our way of life. The _atrocities_ our village has committed. Or complicated like watching Asuma-Sensei die? Like Neji dying? Like our fathers dying? Like waking up one morning and realizing that you’re _fatherless._ That kind of complicated? It’s _love_ Shikamaru. It’s not a math problem. It’s not shogi, or battle strategy. It _is_ easy.”

Ino turns to face the damage she’s done. He looks gutted. _I killed him._

“I love Temari,” is all he can say.

“I know you do, Shika. Of course you do. When you first started dating her, you told me it was like being with a force of nature. I would never try to take that from you.”

“Don’t do it.” He’s resting his face in his hands. “Please don’t ask me to choose both of you. I’m not like that Ino. You may find that easy, but it won’t be easy for me. I want to have a family.”

 _Fuck. Great timing._ Ino’s chakra is beginning to buzz uncomfortably. “God damn it. We need to table this.”

At her tone, Shikamaru is on his feet in a split second. “What is it, Yamanaka.”

“Three chakra signatures coming in strong and fast from directly south of us. An additional two who are skilled enough to attempt suppression.”

Shikamaru closes his eyes. “I feel the three, I’ll take your word on the other two. Fuck, I knew we should’ve gotten further into Fire before we stopped. Here’s the plan.”

  


* * *

 

 

The plan goes sideways. Ino blames herself as she carries him on her back, bleeding, north to Konoha.

  


* * *

 

 

Ino sits outside the Akimichi compound for three hours before Choji finally comes home.

“Ino!” He hurries towards her and hoists her up to her feet, holding her arms tightly. “Come inside, come inside.” He leads her to his house, an arm around her shoulder the whole way. “I just came from the hospital. He’s complaining about how his room doesn’t have a window. So he’s, you know, clearly fine.”

“I know,” is all Ino says.

Choji unlocks his door and brings Ino straight to the kitchen, pulling out a chair for her. “Are you hungry? Do you want a beer?” he asks.

Ino just groans, face muffled by the table. She listens to the clink of bottles. The fridge closing. The hiss of the bottle opener. And then Choji is pressing something cold to her forehead. “Drink,” he says. “And talk, please. You’ve been shutting me out of this for too long.”

She lifts her head. “You’re gonna be mad at me.”

Choji smiles gently. “Name literally one time I’ve ever been mad at you. I’m not gonna pick now to start.”

“Not even if I tell you that I have feelings for Shikamaru? And that I told him, despite Temari, and everything? And that he feels the same way, but will never, ever act on it, because he’s a coward? And that I then proceeded to almost get him killed?”

Choji takes a moment to process that while Ino rapidly drinks down her beer.

“He is a coward,” Choji says finally. “He always has been, about you.”

Ino clinks her now empty bottle against Choji’s. “Cheers.”

“But I won’t lie to you Ino. You can’t do this with Shikamaru. You can't _—_  we're family.”

 _Oh._ “Is it okay if I cry?”

Choji’s eyes fill up without warning. “Of course it’s okay. You know I’m a sympathetic crier though.”

“I know,” Ino sobs. “And I know that we’re family. You don’t need to tell me that.”

Choji is up and making his way around the table to hold Ino close. “You need to hear it Ino. Otherwise this will follow you forever, and it’ll kill you. We’ve been family for generations upon generations. Me, you, and Shika. We’re blood.”

 _Blood._ Ino pulls away from Choji, and rises to her feet. “I love you, Choji.”

He wipes an arm across his tear-streaked face. “I love you, Yamanaka Ino.”

Ino gives into the desire she’s been curbing for weeks. She walks _—_ out the door of Choji’s house, out of the Akimichi compound. She walks forward until she’s ready to stop.


	3. Chapter 3

“I’ve been thinking,” Sakura begins.

Ino gasps mockingly, which causes Sakura to shove her into the dirt. “Ugh, don’t sit on me,” Ino complains loudly, in vain.

“No,” Sakura says, with finality. “You’re going to listen to me.”

“But it’s cold down here.”

“Tough,” she says as she makes herself comfortable on Ino’s liver. “I don’t think you should sell the flower shop.”

Ino is quiet for a moment. “I thought you wanted to come out here and look for slugs and skip stones on the lake, not nag me and give me frostbite.”

Sakura stands and offers Ino a hand up from the ground. “Yep! That was it. I said what I needed to say. Lake first, or slugs?”

Ino frowns. “Slugs.”

They take off at a sedate pace, pausing occasionally to flip over a rock or scratch at a patch of dirt or leaves. There’s no snow on the ground yet— the woods outside of Konoha are a deep and unyielding brown.

_I spend too much time in the city. My life is entirely made up of brick and concrete. When was the last time I breathed real air?_

Ino catches up to Sakura and finds her on hands and knees at the hollow of an old tree, leaning her face close to the earth and examining it closely. “Where are theeeeeey,” she whines.

“Sleeping underground, probably.” Ino leans back against the tree, tilting her head up towards the sky.

“It’s well above freezing,” Sakura mutters. “And even so, most slug species are resistant to the formation of extracellular ice in their— hey!”

Ino uses the toe of her boot to gently tip Sakura over. Sakura squints up at her, before rolling over and sitting up. “Yes?” Sakura prompts

“Your bony ass was in my way.” Ino wraps her scarf tighter around her face. “You already told me you don’t think I should sell the shop, back when I first asked you.”

Sakura props her her elbow on her knee and her chin on her fist. _The Thinker,_ Ino muses.

“I feel like that was always gonna be my knee-jerk response. Honestly, I was just shocked at first. But I really thought about it…” Sakura trails off and looks at Ino searchingly.

“Don’t mince words, Haruno,” Ino encourages. “Just lay it on me.”

“It’s bullshit! It’s bullshit that you want to sell it because you don’t have time for it. You’ve _never_ had time for it since you made chunin. So what are you talking about? Just pass it off to one of your younger cousins, or hire some college students to run the day-to-day stuff. Just… don’t sell it. I promise you, you’ll regret it. Wherever you go next, I want you to know that it’s still here, waiting for you. If you wanted it.”

_Wherever you go next?_ “What do you mean?” Sakura meets Ino’s gaze. _Fuck_. _She’s hurt. And angry. But her eyes are so, so green._ “Sakura?”

Sakura rises and faces Ino fully. “I know you want to leave Konoha. I just don’t know why you’d try to keep it from me.”

Ino is stunned into silence. The thought had honestly never crossed her mind. But as suddenly as it has appeared, it’s taking on roots and anchoring itself in her stomach.

_How could she know?_ Ino doesn’t bother telling Sakura that her desire to leave Konoha is news even to herself. Just thinks about every time she got to her feet and felt the itch to walk away.

“Ino.” Sakura says, softer, but just as fierce. “I _know_ you.”

_Oh._

As the length of Ino’s silence grows, Sakura’s expression journeys from earnest, to concerned, to annoyed. She leans forward and raps her knuckles against Ino’s skull. “Hello?”

“Uhh.”

“If you’re just going to stare at me with your mouth open and not answer my important questions, I’ll go skip rocks by myself,” Sakura says primly. She stalks off towards the lake.

Ino’s brain, spirit, and chakra network are short-circuiting, but her last ounce of sense is urging her to _go. Follow her now, or prove yourself as much a coward as Shikamaru._

Ino lurches forward and jogs through the stand of trees Sakura has disappeared behind. Up ahead, she can see that Sakura has reached the lake, and is angrily executing perfect throws, sending each stone arching across the ice in five or six skips. Each skip echoes through the open space like a revelation.

Ino approaches cautiously, then all at once. She picks up a basketball-sized rock and hurls it out over the lake with a nudge of chakra, then lets out a massive and untidy _yawp._

Sakura barely blinks at the explosion of ice in the middle of the lake, but skitters away from Ino in a series of startled hops at the sound of her shout.

“Have you actually lost your fucking mind?” Sakura yelps.

“Just bear with me,” Ino says, pacing back and forth across the shore.

“Ino.”

“Sakura.” Ino ceases her pacing and begins striding towards her.

“You gonna clue me in?” Sakura asks.

“Yeah, just give me a second,” Ino says as she comes to stand before Sakura. She lifts both hands to frame Sakura’s face.

“I don’t have all day, Yamanaka.”

Ino kisses her. And kisses her. It ends up so that they’re both smiling too hard to continue, so they just breathe together, leaning close.

“Just listen to me for a second,” Sakura says eventually. “We did not fight an entire fucking war just to pretend we’re happy and let shit stay the same until we’re dead. There’s an entire world out there. You can have anything you want.” Sakura kisses her again, briefly. Then stabs a finger at Ino’s chest. “Just write to me, okay?”

Ino sags against Sakura. “You don’t want to come?”

Sakura hugs her fiercely. “I want to be here, on the front lines, with Naruto. Shaking shit, fixing this mess.” She grins crookedly. “But I’ll get Kakashi-Sensei to make up some bullshit research mission for you.”

“Okay,” Ino says. She pulls away from Sakura and finds her eyes drifting west. “I can’t remember the last time it felt like this. Like I’m walking towards something that has nothing to do with fighting and dying.”

Sakura looks at Ino, then follows her gaze westward. “Maybe it’s the first time,” she says.

 

* * *

 

Ino is standing at the gates of Sunagakure, waiting for—of all people—Sabaku no Temari. Ino is arriving later than planned… it’s nearly midnight, and the temperature is beginning to drop for the night. The spotty chunin on duty looks like he’s about to try making small talk again, when Temari strides out of the gloom to meet them. The chunin snaps out a crisp salute, but Temari just gives him a cursory wave and stops in front of Ino.

“Lieutenant Yamanaka. Welcome to Suna. Sorry to keep you waiting out here.”

“It’s fine, Temari. Thanks for rolling out the red carpet for little old me. And I’m not here in any official capacity, so don’t call me Lieutenant.”

Temari smiles and shakes her head, then gestures for Ino to follow. “How are you, Ino.”

Ino takes in the city as it unfolds around them. “I’m good. Really good. Nice to be back in civilization again. Yourself?”

“I’m well. How’s Shikamaru?”

_She doesn’t waste any time._ “Well, I haven’t been home in two years, almost.” Ino cuts a glance at Temari to gauge her mood. “But he’s...good. We write to each other a lot. He just got married.”

“I heard. Who is she?”

“A kunoichi from the code-breaking division. She’s cute. A little weird. She’s a fuckin’ genius though.”

“Figures,” Temari responds. “Although honestly, I was surprised to hear you two didn’t get together after we broke up.”

Ino starts. Then sees Temari’s smirk. _For such a serious bitch, she’s got trickster’s eyes._ “Spare me,” Ino says lightly. “Shika and I are,” _blood,_ Choji said once. “Family. And anyway, I’m with Sakura. I mean,” _this is a clusterfuck,_ “It’s kind of an open thing right now, it had barely even started when I left, but. Yeah.”

Temari barks out a laugh. _Like sandpaper,_ Ino thinks.

“Are you blushing, Yamanaka? I didn’t know you did that. Good for you, though. I always thought you and her would make a good pair.”

“Thanks,” Ino mumbles. They fall into silence as they pass through a bustling night market, everything lit up in hues of red and deep orange. _Gorgeous._

“Your apartment is right around the corner here,” Temari explains. She hands Ino a key and gestures to a three-story walk up. “You’re number 5, I believe.”

Ino pockets the key. “Thanks. What’s the plan for tomorrow?”

Temari rolls her eyes. “Usually tea with the Kazekage would be appropriate, but Gaara called off our top botanists and insisted that he’d personally take you on a tour of the greenhouses. So...enjoy that…”

Ino cackles. “I really, really will though.”

Temari’s eyes are warm. “That’s it then.” She tilts her head a fraction of an inch to the left. “Unless you’re up for a nightcap.”

_That doesn’t mean what you think it means._ She considers Temari’s gaze. _Or maybe it does._ “I’m good,” Ino grins. “It was a long trip. I should sleep. Maybe tomorrow, though.” _There’s time for that, if you want. Time for anything, now._

“Goodnight, then,” Temari answers, before taking to the roofs.

Ino looks up at the quiet, dark apartment, then back towards the night market. She sets off around the corner.

She meanders through the market for an hour or more, lets it swallow her up. She’s examining some herbs at one stall when a weathered old crone approaches her. Ino smiles softly and waits for the old woman to speak, but she merely places thin hands on Ino’s shoulders and presses down with surprising strength. The sensation overwhelms her. She feels as if her body is connected to her feet, and her feet are connected to the earth. The woman lifts a hand and draws an oily finger across Ino’s brow.

“What is that?” Ino asks her quietly.

“Thyme,” she says in a voice that sounds like wind. The smell of the thyme is hot, and strong.

Ino’s eyes had closed, but now they blink open. Her heart is pounding in her chest. The crone is still the crone, but for a moment, Ino’s sure it was her father.

The woman steps away. Ino lets the tears stream down her face freely as she makes her way back to the apartment. Instead of putting the key in the lock, Ino springs up to the roof. There’s a fine layer of gritty sand over everything. She sits.

She can see the vast, dark expanses of the desert sloping off into mystery. It reminds her of Temari. _I know what you meant now, Shika, by force of nature._

She thinks of home, somewhere. Choji. _Blood._ She tears a scrap of paper from a scroll in her pack, and dips a pen in ink.

_Dear Sakura,_

_Tonight, in a market in Suna, I smelled thyme_


End file.
